[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by donnie99

http://frc-manual.usfirst.org/viewItem/3#4

3.2.5

This is the rule in the manual, and the cylinder shifts as appendages move outside the frame.

A simpler way to interpret it, is that the greatest distance between the two points farthest away from each other can not be greater than 54"

That doesn't quite take it into account, unfortunately. You could have an arm that sticks out the center front of the robot, and measures exactly 54" to either back corner. By your definition that will be fine... however, by the definition of a cylinder, this wouldn't work - neither of those 54" lines would pass through the center of the circle, making them chords of a circle with a larger diameter.